How to report freelance income without 1099 form from Fiverr?
I'm in a bit of a confusing situation with my taxes this year. I work as a freelancer on Fiverr and have all my payments deposited directly into my PayPal account. I received a 1099-K from PayPal showing all my earnings, but Fiverr hasn't sent me any 1099 form yet. My question is: Can I just go ahead and file my taxes using only the 1099-K from PayPal without having a separate 1099 form from Fiverr? I'm worried about getting in trouble with the IRS if I don't have all the proper documentation. Also, where's the best place to report this income online? I've never had to deal with this situation before and I'm feeling a bit lost. If it's too complicated, I might just hire a tax accountant to make sure everything's done right. I don't make that much - my annual income from freelancing is under $9,500 - but I definitely don't want to risk any penalties for doing it wrong. Thanks for any advice!
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Giovanni Moretti
You can absolutely file your taxes without receiving a 1099 from Fiverr. The IRS requires you to report ALL income regardless of whether you receive a tax form or not. Since you have the 1099-K from PayPal that shows all your Fiverr income, you already have documentation of your earnings. You'll report this on Schedule C as self-employment income. Make sure you also track and deduct any legitimate business expenses related to your freelance work. For filing online, there are several options like TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA, or even the IRS Free File options if you qualify. Most of these have specific sections for self-employment income where you can enter your 1099-K information.
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Fatima Al-Farsi
•Thanks for the info! But I'm confused about Schedule C - is that different from the regular 1040 form? And will the IRS flag my return if there's a 1099-K but no matching 1099 from Fiverr?
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Giovanni Moretti
•Schedule C is a form that attaches to your regular 1040. It's specifically for reporting profit or loss from a business, which is what freelancing is considered. You'll complete Schedule C and the result (your net profit) will transfer to your 1040. The IRS won't flag your return for having a 1099-K but no 1099 from Fiverr. They're mainly concerned that you report all your income correctly. The 1099-K from PayPal serves as documentation of that income. Fiverr may not be required to send you a 1099 depending on your earnings level, but you're still required to report all income regardless.
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Dylan Cooper
I had a similar situation last year with freelance income. After hours of research and stress, I finally used taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it was a game-changer. Their system specifically handles unusual documentation situations like yours. You upload your 1099-K from PayPal, and their AI helps identify all possible deductions related to your freelance work. It walks you through reporting your income correctly on Schedule C even without a Fiverr 1099. What I found most helpful was that it explained each step in plain language instead of tax jargon.
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Sofia Perez
•How does it work with income tracking throughout the year? I never know what to keep track of and always scramble at tax time.
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Dmitry Smirnov
•I'm skeptical about AI tax services. Can it really handle complex situations? What happens if you get audited?
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Dylan Cooper
•It includes a year-round income tracking feature that lets you categorize income as it comes in. You can tag income sources (like Fiverr, Upwork, direct clients) and it builds your tax forms automatically. It even sends quarterly reminders if you should be making estimated tax payments. For audit protection, they actually review your documents before filing and flag potential issues. If you do get audited, they provide audit support with documentation of how they calculated everything. Their system is designed to handle complex situations like multiple income sources without traditional documentation - that's what makes it different from basic tax software.
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Dmitry Smirnov
Just wanted to update about my experience with taxr.ai that I mentioned earlier. I was skeptical at first, but I tried it for my freelance taxes this year, and it actually worked incredibly well! The system found business deductions I didn't even know I qualified for. It handled my situation with multiple payment platforms (PayPal, Venmo, direct deposits) without needing separate 1099s from each client. The best part was the explanation of how to properly complete Schedule C - I've been doing it wrong for years apparently! Saved me around $780 in taxes through legitimate deductions I was missing. For someone making under $10K freelancing like the original poster, it's definitely worth checking out. Much better than the basic free filing options I've used before.
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ElectricDreamer
If you haven't received your 1099 from Fiverr yet and you've already tried contacting them without success, you might want to try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was in the same situation last year, couldn't get through to support, and needed answers quickly. Claimyr got me through to a real person at the IRS who explained exactly what to do when a platform doesn't provide expected documentation. They have a demo video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was literally on hold with the IRS for 3+ hours before I gave up. With Claimyr, I had my questions answered in about 15 minutes after they got me through the line. The IRS agent told me it was perfectly fine to use just the 1099-K as long as I reported all income.
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Ava Johnson
•How exactly does this work? Do they just call the IRS for you? Couldn't you just keep calling yourself?
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Miguel Diaz
•Sounds like a scam tbh. Why would anyone need a service to call the IRS? The IRS is literally free to call.
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ElectricDreamer
•They don't call for you - they use technology to navigate the IRS phone tree and wait on hold, then alert you when an actual agent is about to pick up. You take the call and speak directly to the IRS yourself. You absolutely can call yourself, but the average hold time right now is 2-3 hours, and many people get disconnected after waiting. I tried calling 4 different times and got disconnected twice, then gave up the other times after waiting over an hour. With Claimyr, I only had to be on the phone for the actual conversation with the agent, which was about 10 minutes.
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Miguel Diaz
Alright, I need to apologize about my comment calling Claimyr a scam. I actually tried it after posting that comment because I was curious (and desperate for help with a missing 1099 situation). It's legitimate. I got through to an actual IRS agent in about 40 minutes when I had been trying to call myself for days. The agent confirmed exactly what others here have said - you can file with just the 1099-K from PayPal, and you're required to report all income whether you get a form or not. They also explained that due to some threshold changes, many platforms aren't required to send 1099s for amounts under certain limits, which might explain why Fiverr didn't send one. Saved me a ton of stress and I've already filed my return. Just wanted to correct my earlier skepticism.
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Zainab Ahmed
I'm a regular Fiverr seller and want to add something important - Fiverr isn't required to send you a 1099-NEC if you earned less than $600 from them directly. Since you said your income is under $9,500 total, it's possible you're under that threshold. The 1099-K from PayPal is probably showing all your income (from Fiverr and possibly other sources) because payment processors have different reporting requirements. For 2025 filing, payment processors must issue a 1099-K if you received more than $600. Just make sure when you file that you don't double-count your income. The money showing on your PayPal 1099-K includes your Fiverr earnings.
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Connor Byrne
•Wait so if the money goes from Fiverr to PayPal, and both might issue 1099s, how do you avoid reporting the same income twice?
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Zainab Ahmed
•You need to carefully identify the source of each payment on your Schedule C. The total income reported should match your actual earnings, not the sum of all 1099 forms (which could count the same money twice). For example, if you earned $8,000 on Fiverr and it all went to PayPal, you'd report $8,000 total self-employment income on your Schedule C, not $16,000. You might need to include a note with your tax return explaining that the same income appears on multiple forms. This is actually a common issue with payment processors and platforms, and the IRS is aware of it.
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Yara Abboud
Has anyone actually tried using the IRS Free File options for reporting freelance income? I'm in almost the exact same situation (Fiverr freelancer, payments to PayPal, income under $10k) and wondering if I can use the free options or if I need to pay for the premium versions of tax software.
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PixelPioneer
•I used IRS Free File last year for my freelance income. Most of the free options can handle Schedule C, but there's a catch - if you have ANY deductions related to your freelance work (internet, computer, software subscriptions), you usually need to upgrade to a paid version. Basic free versions only work for super simple scenarios.
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AstroExplorer
•Thanks for all the advice everyone! I actually just tried FreeTaxUSA after reading these comments, and it handled my situation perfectly. Their free version does include Schedule C for self-employment income, and I only had to pay a small fee for the state return. Way cheaper than the "big name" options. I reported all my income from the PayPal 1099-K on Schedule C, made sure to include my business expenses, and everything went smoothly. I also added a note explaining that all my Fiverr income was already included in the PayPal 1099-K to avoid any confusion.
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